Formula One Adds a Garden State Race

It’s official: New Jersey will play host to the Formula One Grand Prix of America in June 2013.

At an announcement Tuesday, Formula One officials solidified what The Wall Street Journal first reported in August and confirmed last week. The world’s most advanced open-wheel cars are coming to the Garden State to run a course with the Manhattan skyline as a backdrop.

The 3.2-mile race course will take drivers competing in the richest and most popular international motorsport along New Jersey’s Hudson River shoreline, between Weehawken and West New York.

In a statement, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said that up 100,000 people are expected to attend the three races over the event’s three days: a practice run followed by a qualifying round and the final race. Christie said the race will bring “one of the world’s most popular and exciting sports right to our backyard.”

The last U.S. Formula One race took place at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2007, and the sport has a limited following among American racing fans. At WSJ’s Driver’s Seat blog, Jonathan Welsh asks whether a domestic audience will care about New Jersey’s Formula One debut.